245 items

• Page of notes labeled "Muriel"
  Page of notes that are labeled “Muriel”. They are numbered and appear to ask questions. The notes are on the back of a page of what looks like a college essay.
• Paper titled "Draft of answers to questions of August 5th, 1976"
  A typewritten, original copy of a paper called ‘Draft of answers to questions of August 5th, 1976’, which was stapled onto the question page,. Written on with a green marker or pen.Presumably, these are Muriel Rukeyser’s answers to the questions.
• Paperclipped collection of one envelope and two letters
  A paperclipped collection of one envelope and two letters. The envelope is dated March 2nd, 1981. It is to Louise Kertesz from Clive Bush.
• Photo of the Bolligen Poetry Prize Selection Committee
  Dated 1954, a photo of the Bollingen Poetry Prize Selection Committee. A group photo (from the back row, left to right) Wallace Stevens, Randall Jarell, Allen Tate. (Front row) Marianne Moore and Rukeyser.
• Photocopied description of a movie about Rukeyser which focused on her life and poetry
  Unknown Date. A photocopied description of a movie about Rukeyser (available as video cassette and a 16mm film), focused on her life and poetry. (Library of Congress No. 78-701170). States that Muriel was rated as one of “The most interesting and individual poets” in 1935 by Stephen Vincent Benet. Describing Muriel’s work, it says, “Always a political poet, she selects those who demean the value of human life as her targets.” “When asked to talk about the obstacles a poet faced, Rukeyser mentions misunderstanding–misunderstanding from oneself, one’s family, the audience. Rukeyser strives to overcome these and the most recent barriers to her poetry, two disabling strokes… Muriel Rukeyser is continually challenged by the difficult job of writing poetry that reaches the people.”
• Photocopied handwritten note from Muriel Rukeyser to Louise Kertesz
  Dated October 10th, 1975. A photocopied handwritten note from Muriel Rukeyser to Louise Kertesz. The note thanks Louise for reading “Theory of Flight '' with the “deepest understanding and for the grace of your work.” Muriel is willing to answer Louise’s questions, and asks if Louise had already sent them. Muriel had just come back from Korea where she has been “trying hard, with P.E.N, for Kim Chi Ha.” She ends by writing “Your book means very much to me. Good life to it - .”
• Photocopied handwritten note from Muriel Rukeyser to Louise Kertesz
  Dated June 24th, 1977. A photocopied handwritten note from Muriel Rukeyser to Louise Kertesz. States “It is an astonishing and beautiful book, and brings through the structure and vocabulary.”’ Rukeyser had written to Bernard Perry to “hasten things along” and asks if Louise wants her to write to another press. Rukeyser also looks forward to seeing Louise.
• Photocopies of two letters from Anne Sexton to Muriel Rukeyser
  Photocopy of two letters from Anne Sexton to Muriel Rukeyser. Dated November 1st, 1967, Sexton states that she keeps Muriel’s “The Speed of Darkness” on her desk. Notable lines: “It glistens here like the first washed flowers in spring when you sent it to me. Section one goes whammy! Then flows out like an infusion of blood into the body.” Dated December 19th, 1967, Sexton’s letter states that she loved Muriel’s telegram and their quick hug at the Guggy (Guggenheim Museum). States that Muriel’s new poem is splendid. Notable lines: “Your poems move like dreams and sink into my unconscious to reappear at night. They frighten. They become a memory. I love you.”
• Photocopy of a note by Muriel Rukeyser
  Undated. Photocopy of a note by Muriel Rukeyser on carrying around a poem for six week and not finding it.
• Photocopy of a photo collection with Louise Kertesz, Richard Eberhart, and Marge Piercy
  A photocopy of the first photo collection. Louise Kertesz, Richard Eberhart, poet, and Marge Piercy are in the pictures.
• Photocopy of a review of Louise Kertesz's book
  A photocopied sheet, dated May 1981, that contains a copy of a review of Louise Kertesz’s book by Annette Colodny from American Literature. The review is not complimentary, and someone, presumably Louise, has underlined parts of the review that say, statements such as, "Instead, she chose to waste precious space quoting and responding to criticisms or reviews long since faded from memory (if indeed, we never attended to them in the first place) One of the most jarring parts of the review states that, “So, too, in a way, does Muriel Rukeyser in Louise Kertez’s The Poetic Vision of Muriel Rukeyser. The timing of the Kertesz study happily coincides with the publication of Rukeyser’s Collected Poems (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1979) and, less happily, with the year in which we wish to commemorate the achievement of a woman whose passing we have only to recently mourned. The problem with the book is that it fails to do full justice to that achievement”.
• Photocopy of a statement from Muriel Rukeyser
  Dated April 19th, 1947. Photocopy of a statement from Muriel Rukeyser, naming Marie W. West and Betty B. Hogan joint executors of her will should she not survive her pregnancy: “I should like Betty and Marie to be my executors, with my lasting thanks, and it is my wish that Betty and her husband be guardians of my child….If there is no survivor, Marie W. West is to have everything–little enough.” on top of the note, a handwritten note by Rukeyser: “superseded–MR. 1963.”